Trade deadline and stuatus

[bunsen82]

Well I loved waking up and seeing Ted's article saying the Twins intended to fail.  It gave me a laugh.   

I am a fairly level headed individual but am willing to give the benefit of the doubt more than most people will.  I made it very clear in June that I thought this team didn't have the pitching and that injuries would catch up to the team by the end of the summer.   It was the statement that the players had outperformed expectations.  Its not that the front office intended the Twins to fail,  its that in their current cycle the Twins were not expected to even really be competing for a playoff spot.  We were expected to be 3rd or 4th in our division at the beginning of the year.  So if the Twins outperform suddenly its the front office's fault and they intended to fail?   No offense I don't get the logic.   

I have contended the front office is trying to put the best product on the field every year,  improving their depth at all levels trying to give themselves a shot over an extended time period because you never know when you can catch lightning in bottle like 87, 91 or the Braves last year.   Honestly the Twins have shown some grit this year and show they have some talent. We have some younger pitchers and bats that will help keep us competitive for a while. 

The draft strategy of going for projectible bats at the corners,  2nd base and Outfield are starting to pay off and we are getting close to having a glut in the next year or two.  It will also cause a problem with the 40 man.  By my rough math we have the potential of losing 3-4 decent prospects this year if everything remains the same.  The pitching pipeline actually has done fairly well this year.   Ryan, Ober, Winder, and Duran have all shown they can be valuable pieces of a pitching staff.   After that their is a little bit of a gap to our next set of arms coming up through the system but we are fairly well stacked and AA and down with arms that have the ability to continue to improve.   This is the most young pitching we have had in the organization in over a decade.  The draft strategy of looking for projectible arms at any point in the draft is really paying off and the coach at A ball on the pitching staff is doing wonders.  Overall the minors system is well stacked with batters and pitchers,  although the pitchers are probably about a year off before giving us another real shot at boosting the big league staff.  

By counting on so many young players/injury prone players - the results have been a ton of injuries.  Lewis, Larnach, Kiriloff, Kepler, Buxton, Winder, Ober, Paddack is a lot of talent to lose off the team for either the rest of the season or for extended periods or giving regular rest in Buxton's case.  Injuries can occur,  taking on a player like Paddack was an injury waiting to happen.  It was still the right decision in my decision.   What I disagree with Falvey and Levine is completely ignoring the Relief Corps.   I think the view Relief as an area you can always improve at the deadline if you are still in it.   It doesn't mean I have to like the philosophy.   

Then we come down to the gift this year that was Correa that fell into Falvey and Levines laps.   I stated early on in June with my expectations the Twins would struggle down the stretch and with Lewis is the wings that we should trade Correa.   He was an asset that fell into our laps and we could maximize future talent by trading with Lewis ready to take over.  That immediately changed with Lewis injury.  If we are going to compete the rest of the year it will have to be with Correa.  Correa for the most part has performed well for the Twins.  Probably a few more errors than you would like an elite player,  but he has been a great leader on this team.  

So we are at the trade deadline and up 1 game.  What do we do.  If all players are assets you are willing to maneuver if you can get better value for this year and future years and/or you are going to trade some players you expect to lose anyways in the rule 5 draft.  I expect we will get 2 relievers today.  Nothing spectacular,  essential players like Romo from 2019 that can be had for 20's or lower prospect.  Based on the fact we were informed we came up short in the Montas offering its clear we are still looking for a starter and a decent starter at that.   However they will not overpay.  Whatever you may think of the management they will come up with their values and stick to it and move onto Plan B, C or D.   I think they see this as an opportunity to get a pennant but they are not going to put in a ton of resources unless they are going to get future value.    Mahle and Lopez look like the primary targets,  and we will be losing a decent prospect or two in those trades.   If we want to compete that is the cost.    

The Twins organization is so much better than where it was 5 years ago.  That many cannot recognize that or relish that we have had several years where we have competed for division titles without really a full deck from bottom to top in the organization boggles me.  Maybe we were just spoiled with 2019 and it set too high of expectations.  The minors had really minimal talent and that talent is getting much stronger at all levels.   

Lets see what happens and be glad we can still root for our team in August to try and win a pennant and hopefully the twins get a few reinforcements today.